#AskDerekCole Episode 37: What causes a crack in my heat exchanger?

Hey, on this episode of Ask Derrick Cole, I talk about carbon monoxide alarms, but the question was really about your heat exchangers. My unit keeps freezing, what's happening with that? And what's the ideal humidity for me to have in my house? You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Episode 37 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Hashtag. Make sure you send in your energy home maintenance questions in. Hashtag #AskDerrickCole and we will get them on the show. We are actually in my office today.

That's right.

You just probably see the door, so that's fine because you don't want to see all that over there. Let's get into it.

Why does my heat pump system freeze up sometimes?

Good question. A heat pump freezing up is two signs really. One is airflow and the other is refrigerant. So what could be going on with airflow is if your filter is stopped up or clogged and not getting enough air back to the unit, it would cause it to freeze up. Or if you have a refrigerant leak in that system and it's running low on the refrigerant, then that will freeze it up as well. So either one is a problem, obviously. First thing I would do though is check your filter to make sure it's clean and make sure it's been changed. And if you still have a problem, you need to call a professional because it's something other than the filter. It's low airflow or it is the refrigerant. So either one of those could be a motor problem or could be a leak somewhere with the refrigerant. Either way, after the filter, you need to get it checked out.

What are possible causes for cracks in my heat exchanger?

Heat exchanger is going to be a big thing coming up here in the fall and the winter. So kind of explain a little bit what the heat exchanger does. When you have a furnace or a gas pack, anything that is burning the fuel, you have a chamber in which that flame sits to warm the air up. That is what's going to be the heat exchanger. So usually when they crack is because it is, you know, the technical term of losing the integrity. It's a it's something that has gone wrong in the— it's either designed poorly and it's designed with, say, a plastic or a— not plastic, but really a— oh geez, what is the name of that? It's not steel. Aluminum. Aluminum. Where the aluminum has been put together, it's probably failed there. Or if it is a steel or metal,. They crack also where it bends. It kind of bends like this. So those bends each time, you know, obviously the metal is getting smaller when it bends, so the integrity is not as strong as, you know, or thick as the top or the bottom, so it tends to crack there as well. You see a lot more problems or faster problems with LP gas versus natural gas, and it's simply because of the makeup and the moisture content. So an LP, say, gas pack, that heat exchanger is probably going to fail sooner than if you had a natural gas source for that same kind of a gas pack. It's just the chemical makeup and the way it is. So what they're doing today on a lot of these is giving you a stainless steel option for the heat exchanger which is more expensive but is a better option because then you don't have the corrosion, you don't have the loss of integrity happening. And with the product we move and we actually put in the homes, it comes with a 20-year heat exchanger warranty on the package product. And the higher— or the higher efficient furnaces comes with a lifetime heat exchanger warranty. So they're very confident in the heat exchangers they're making these days with the higher-end products that it's not going to fail, and if it does, it's replaced, obviously. So it's nothing to play with. I mean, when you have a cracked heat exchanger, you're having now the carbon monoxide possibly going into the home. So anytime you have a gas-fired appliance— dryer, stove, furnace, gas pack— you need to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in the home. It's odorless, you're not going to smell it, it's going to creep up on you, and by the time you get headaches, it's probably way too late. You're going to have some problems there. So make sure you have a carbon monoxide alarm. And this question was not about carbon monoxide alarms, but while I'm on the subject, I will tell you the fire and smoke alarms with the carbon monoxide that's in the ceiling, that's not going to help you out any. You need a CO alarm that is at the receptacle floor level, and it's also recommended to put it close to a bedroom. Therefore, if it goes off during the night, you can hear it.

So I would put one at each level of the house and in the middle of the hall at the bedrooms, low to the ground, because again, it's a—

it's a gas, it's going to be low to the ground. By the time it gets way up here, I mean, we're already having problems, so that's going to be too late.

So get a CO alarm that is at the ground, plug it in at the bedrooms. That way you can hear if it goes off. Back to the original question. What was the question?

Possible causes for cracks in the heat exchanger.

So causes for cracks, lack of maintenance as well as just gas makeup. Depending on what kind of products in the home and if it's LP or natural gas and depending on how it was installed, all this is going to really play into what happens with the heat exchanger down the road. But those little tips I gave you are good advice. So make sure any gas appliance, if you have anything gas in the house, make sure you have a CO alarm. 7 years is the lifespan on CO alarm. I'm not even answering the question anymore. I'm going off on safety, but 7 years is the lifetime on that alarm.

It's the same as your fire and smoke alarms. It does need to be replaced. It doesn't last forever. It can go bad. The sensors in it will start breathing, so make sure that is in place. But yeah, a cracked heat exchanger is nothing to play with. If we find it in the home, we shut the gas off to it completely because you can't You can't keep that running. We can't knowingly come to your house and then leave a safety hazard in place and us walk away. So that's not going to happen with us. Even if it's 20, 25 degrees outside, unfortunately, you'd rather be alive and be cold. So, you know, if you want to be cold, you want to be dead. Which one do you want? So you want to make sure you're safe, your family's safe. So CO Carbon dioxide is nothing to play with, so a cracking exchanger is a problem. In this area, depending on LP or natural gas, depends on really the lifespan of the system. But there's very little you're doing with preventing it from cracking. So it's just one of them deals. One of them deals. That was a long answer. It wasn't even real. I went off on CO. But that's fine. That's a good tip. Yeah, that's safety. That's what you need to know. So, if you have the CO alarm that's the fire and smoke alarm and CO in one and it's on the ceiling, I mean, that's not gonna work for the CO. So you need to make sure you get one at the floor. Really, that's the biggest problem we've seen out in the field is having the alarms that are on the top of the ceiling or on the wall, and really it's not doing you any good because by the time it reaches— it can read that level, there's already quite a few issues. And the issues are that people in the house are not living anymore. I mean, if it gets that high, I mean, if you read up on CO, it's very, very deadly, and it can sneak up on you, so you need something.

Yeah. What is the ideal humidity level for my home?

So we are in southeastern North Carolina. It can get a little humid. So ideal level is 30 to 50% indoor humidity. So that is why if you go back a few shows ago, I think by now, I talk about not leaving your fan on. Or it might have been the Comfort Experts. I don't know. I'm doing these shows and I'm not sure which one's which. But you don't want to leave the fan running all the time because like today, I mean, it's like 70% humidity outside. So that humidity is now being brought indoors and you're circulating it and it's not going anywhere. So your air conditioner is there as also a dehumidifier. So one of the ways AC makes you more comfortable is it takes moisture out of the air. So leaving a fan on is not achieving that all the time. So you want to make sure your AC is on, and 30 to 50% is really the ideal place or comfort you want in your home. It's also going to prevent things from growing in your home, which can also be a problem, as you see some green slimy stuff happening outside your unit. So 30 to 50% That's it. That is it. Episode 37. Wow. I went off on— if anybody has a carbon monoxide question, apparently I've already answered it for you, so you're good to go. Check on the previous episodes. Go back and watch them. We have different questions every time. So thanks for joining me. Have a great time, and I will see you soon.